Vote coming on renaming schools honoring Confederate leaders

PETERSBURG, Va. – School officials in a Virginia city plan to vote next month on whether to rename three elementary schools now named after Confederate leaders.

Petersburg school officials are considering changing the names of A.P. Hill, J.E.B. Stuart and Robert E. Lee elementary schools. The school board's vote is scheduled for Feb. 7.

Other schools in Richmond and surrounding districts also have schools named to honor Civil War-era leaders. In Hanover, a group is calling on the school board to change the names of Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School, while a counter-petition has circulated in support of the Lee-Davis name.

The debate gained attention after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. Various Southern cities, including Richmond, are grappling with whether to leave Confederate monuments standing.